Sunday, December 14, 2003
Five by five
If you're a Buffy fan, you've heard the expression "five by five" and might have wondered where it came from. I remembered hearing that it was WWII slang, so I looked it up in my new favorite toy, the Dictionary of American Slang.
I don't understand how it fits into the context in which it's used in the Buffyverse, but there you go.
If you're a Buffy fan, you've heard the expression "five by five" and might have wondered where it came from. I remembered hearing that it was WWII slang, so I looked it up in my new favorite toy, the Dictionary of American Slang.
five-by-five adj. Fat. c1940: "Mr. Five-by-Five," title of a pop. song containing the line "He's five feet tall and five feet wide." 1956: "Anybody fat is five-by-five." S. Longstreet, The Real Jazz Old and New, 150.
I don't understand how it fits into the context in which it's used in the Buffyverse, but there you go.
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